Thanks to all the reviews! Wow, for a while there I thought I was going to have to delete this story (sort of nip it in the bud) because no one was going to review. Seriously, I had one single review. And then more started pouring in…and then more…it was so nice of you guys::hugs everyone:: Thank you so much! It took me a while to update because I had lost all threads of the story for a long time. When you have a mind to delete something, the threads seem to disappear…but luckily enough, some of them have returned to me. Hopefully this chapter is a worthy successor of the last! Enjoy!

Warning: This chapter contains mentions of blood and violence, femmexfemme/shoujo-ai, as well as some mentions of death. It's pretty much bowing down to the rating, I guess.

Disclaimer: I don't own FMA.

Chapter Two: Disobeying Orders

Rain poured down on us all; drenching everything it touched with cold, rapid pellets. The sun had abandoned the sky, leaving its counterpart with night-like blackness that made it difficult to see. Luckily all soldiers were wearing plastic blue raincoats that reflected the water brightly. I could also make out each and every stationed gun, aimed straight out from the men, (a stance inculcated upon them by years of training). The water spread like sheets, parting straight down the middle, over the weapons. They were impossible to miss.

I stood behind ten lines of soldiers, ten lines of gleaming blue animosity, ten lines of hostile ignorance. Brigadier General Mustang stood next to me. Neither of us wore hoods to protect our faces from the heavenly onslaught. His hair had flattened against his skull as I am sure mine had done as well. However, despite his persistent blinking reflex to block out the rain, Mustang looked as cold as ever.

Diagonally opposite from where we stood, I spotted Armstrong with his hood down, casually awaiting Mustang's order. When I told him about the mission he had seemed less than enthusiastic, but like always he called upon his respect for the General and did as he was told. I wished at the time that I could be as complacent; still the mission rang false to me.

We were stationed in front of the cloistered, abandoned weaponry shed that had outlasted its efficiency more than two decades ago. The government still kept some weapons there (outdated though they were) for safekeeping, but the place itself was in ruins. Holes and missing boards in the wooden structure became glaringly obvious against the black backdrop of the rain. Many people held secret fear of this place for its strangeness. Indeed, some rumors of its being "haunted" floated around the country in sparse flecks. No one ever dared to come here on their own. Yet, Edward swore that he saw his mother's likeness here. He swore that a homunculus by the name of Sloth had attacked him at this very same spot no more than 72 hours ago.

Suddenly, Edward himself appeared alongside me. Without looking, I could feel his small yet proud stature and his astute cunning. Wrapped in his trademark red coat, Ed looked ahead and whispered to Mustang and me, "They have a plan. I can feel it."

Mustang responded quickly in the same tone. "Of course they do. They always do. The trick is to find their leader, this Sloth person."

"You can't kill them without the proper transmutation circle and formula." Ed's eyes were bitingly hard as he spoke.

"Who said anything about killing her? We just need to capture her in order to hold the upper hand."

Ed turned to face our current leader. "And you really think that's possible without a means to harm or kill them? It's an impossible fight!"

Mustang kept his focus straight ahead. After a while, he responded to Ed's comment. "We don't know what the outcome of this day will be. Just keep yourself focused on the goal."

"Kind of hard to do when there's no goal to focus on…" Ed grumbled.

At this, Mustang raised his voice slightly. "Save it for when you're the Brigadier General. Right now, I'm in command here."

Ed did not reply.

I was not sure who I agreed with. True, the battle seemed fruitless and fool-hardy, but Mustang needed to show an offense to the enemy. He could not let them pass idly by while we had vital information. Even if we lost this battle, our enemies would know that we were strong.

At least, this is what I hoped.

Mustang's voice snapped me out of contemplation. "Lieutenant Hawkeye."

"Sir."

"At the ready." If he was giving this command, he must have seen the enemy.

"Where do you see them, sir?" I asked, my eyes frantically searching the area.

"I don't," he replied calmly.

"Sir…" I stared at him. Had he lost his mind?

He nodded. "Relax. We're just going in to inspect first."

Unfortunately, my confidence did not return. Checking my right side for the secret hand gun I had stashed away, my left side for the hilt of an army sword tucked inside its sheath, and both my breast pockets for extra bullets and replacement knives, I reached behind me for a rifle. Havoc, my second in command, stood at his attention spot and immediately handed it to me. Cocking it, I shouted Mustang's command to the squadron, "INSPECTION! 45 DEGREES!"

In one single wave, the soldiers lowered their guns slightly (on a 45 degree angle) and prepared for the next command.

"AT THE READY…TOGETHER…" I glanced at Mustang one last time for the entry command. He nodded deftly with assurance.

"FORWARD MARCH!" The troops began marching in unison towards the shed.

The sound of marching boats competed with that of the rain pummeling the earth. My ears were filled with both sounds until I started to get dizzy. I closed my eyes and followed the pattern lead before me by the others.

Something felt so wrong. Why was Mustang doing this? As my eyelids closed, I saw the possible future of complete death encircling all around us in their subsequent darkness. Bodies strewn everywhere…headless, limbless, blank eyes…it was all so obvious who had one and who had lost…Mustang's own head frozen in death beneath my feet…

"Hawkeye,"

His voice…alive? Dead?

"Hawkeye!" I snapped my eyes open.

"Sir!"

"Stop doing that!" My leader seemed genuinely angry. I nodded at this, but let my own concern show fully. "Now listen. I'm going to have you command the troops into the shed…"

As he spoke, I looked in front of our line. The building loomed before us like the ghosts it supposedly held. Goosebumps erupted on my flesh. Some of the soldiers had started whispering among themselves.

We were losing their will.

"We'll split the quadrant into three parts. I'll take the first and lead directly ahead. You take the second and lead them to the right side. Have Armstrong take the third and inspect the left side. Clear?"

I stared at him emotionlessly. "As we discussed, then, sir?"

"Yes."

Armstrong already knew the plan, then. We had gone over it the night before in General Mustang's office. After hordes of battle plans had been thrown on the table, we decided on this one and split the men in thirds. Divide and conquer, I supposed. However, it seemed that splitting them up now, when we had already lost some of the men's will to fight, was not the best idea…

"What are you waiting for?" Mustang asked, directly into my ear.

"Nothing." I did not add the "sir." It seemed pointless. "THREE QUADRANTS! LEFT! STRAIGHT! RIGHT!"

The soldiers automatically divided themselves into the predetermined factions. Armstrong boldly took on his third. "Come on, men! Follow me." What scared me was that he did not even spare a glance to Mustang and me behind him. He should have at least acknowledged that he had heard the command…a wish of luck…anything?

Whatever. There was no time to worry about Armstrong now.

I stepped forward and took my section shouting, "Let's move!" And so I left Mustang and Edward to go straight into the shed, barrels unlocked, guns at the ready. It seemed reasonable, then, not to spare them a glance. Wordlessly, we moved to the right, myself in the lead.

There were no doors towards the right, but there were enough gaping holes for any number of men to crawl through. When we reached a hole I stood aside and told them, "First we inspect the surroundings." Moving on the outside of the shed we slunk, slowly around the back. Before stepping straight behind the building, I grabbed my rifle and aimed it straight in front of me exactly at the moment I turned to face the open backyard of the building.

Trees. Rain. More dead wood. A strange clearing in the distance that opened into a city…but no bodies. No people. Were we alone here? I stood for about thirty seconds in the same position. Nothing appeared.

Slowly letting my gun drop, I told the men, "Alright. All clear. Move in."

We turned around and headed for the holes in the front. Suddenly, I heard footsteps and heavy breathing. Panting. Every single body turned around, including myself, and aimed their rifles.

A soldier, blue coated and obvious State material, was running toward us. He had no weapon, there were scratches and bruise along his face, and he held an astounding amount of fear in his eyes.

"Lieutenant…" he panted. "Lieutenant!" I thought a million things but said nothing. Instead, I let my gun leave the ready position. The others did the same.

"Lieutenant!" He reached me and clung onto my clothes. "Lieutenant Hawkeye! There's been…a terrible…accident…mistake…battle."

I grabbed his elbows and looked deeply into his frightened eyes. Oh God. Don't tell me… "What happened, soldier?" I demanded. "Tell me!"

"General Mustang…he…we…moved in too quickly…they surrounded us…we fought…our best…and General Mustang…General Mustang he…" The soldier looked down and choked.

I knew it. Damn that no one listened to me! Goddamn it, Mustang! "Alright. We're going to assist his quadrant. Are there any soldiers left that you know of?"

"I…can't be sure, Lieutenant. It was dark—I ran for you as quickly as I could!" He held me like a child clinging to its mother. Dear God, what could have frightened him so badly?

"You did the right thing, soldier," I comforted. "Now tell me, can you still fight?"

Immediately letting go, he stood up straight and saluted me. "Yes, ma'am!" Ah, a proud dog. At least I had need of those.

"Then join the others. We're going to help them!" As he scrambled to the back of the line, I gave one last glance to the city clearing. Nothing had felt right…I knew it…oh well. Now was the time to help my general.

When I turned back to my squad, I saw perhaps one of the most disturbing scenes I have ever seen in my life. The solider, the innocent, the man who had been clinging to me no more than five seconds ago was beating the rest of my men with sharpened knives, (literally stabbing them in the back), and kicking them with stark feet.

I ran over and grabbed him around the neck, flinging him to the ground. "What the hell are you doing?!"

A smirk spread across his lips and his hair grew long and bushy. His long blue military uniform shrank and transformed into a skimpy black outfit. Pale skin…cold to the touch…eyes that chomped on my pride and being…

"Homunculus…" I whispered.

While the last syllable of that disgusting word still hung on my breath, he reached up with a knife-like leg and kicked me in the stomach, then punched me in the face. A rapid harmony of pain. I fell backwards and dropped my rifle.

Tricked! Fucking hell…

Raising a hand to my bleeding (and probably broken) nose, I jumped up and reached for my hand rifle. The homunculus had his back turned as he continued to destroy my all but defenseless soldiers—there was no way to kill a homunculus without alchemy.

"To hell with that," I thought. "Nothing can stop me from trying!"

I cocked my gun and shot the beast directly in the spine, then the shoulder, then the hip, then the neck…I kept shooting until I had no bullets left.

Reloading, I watched as the creature quivered and fell. Had I…was it…?

The holes in his deathly skin suddenly began to close themselves. He was…healing…

The creature stood facing me. "You bitch!" he shouted and ran towards me.

My gun went off again, though I knew it was useless. This time I shot him in the face, blowing a hole clear through his head. Instead of dropping like a human would have, he used the momentum of the shot to flip backwards, landing on the fallen bodies of my men. I watched helplessly as his face pieced itself back together.

I expected him to come at me again, so I raised my gun and fired. Unfortunately, the target moved and jumped backward again—simply inviting me to follow him.

What else was I supposed to do? He was the enemy. I did not know how to use alchemy effectively, but…I would still follow him. I would lead him into some sort of…trap. Yes, I trap. The others had to be in the same predicament I was. This made perfect sense. At the time.

So, stepping over my men (most of which were dead), and called to the alive ones, "Follow me!"

None did.

I barely even noticed, though. My feet continued to run. I stepped heedlessly, unafraid, into the hole and the darkness of the building. My mind was set on one thing: That damn monster. He would die before the day was done.

-------------------------------------------------

Sloth stared down at the humans from our spot on the rooftop. She wore her trademark smile as she spoke. "They can't see well in the rain. Remember that."

Envy lay on the other side of her, (he had had enough of watching by this point), sulkily complaining. "When are we going to move in? I've had enough of waiting, damn it!" I knew it.

"We wait for them to make the first move," Sloth stated simply. "Then, Envy. Then we move in."

I moved my eyes from them and looked at the many blue dots align with our current, ramshackle station. The rain ruined them. They looked much more…normal in the sunlight. The rain made them soggy. There were humans in the back row that did not wear anything to cover their heads. Was this a mark of superiority? I had no clue. All I did know was that the rain mangled their features.

One of them, what looked like a man, with black hair was blinking rapidly to keep the water out of his eyes. He looked old. Feeble almost. If not for his young, sexual prowess I would have thought him later on in years. The other…a blonde one that looked like a woman. She had long hair gathered back into a tight bun at the back of her head. She stared straight ahead, as if the rain did not bother her. She looked…almost normal. My dead skin could not retain water or become wet for more than a few seconds. Was she a human that did not feel the water?

Such a stupid thought. Of course not.

Suddenly a red dot moved into view, next to the black-haired man. Envy snarled and stood up. "That's Ed!"

Sloth nodded. "Yes it is. Do not advance."

"But he's right there! It's the perfect time!" His face turned to her twisted into angry confusion.

"I said to wait. Our mistress left me in charge. So you will wait." Envy crossed his arms and sat down.

There were only three of us on the roof. Gluttony and Wrath were waiting around the other side of the place. The left side, I think. Sloth had told us to spread out to counteract the humans' probable plan. Envy had scoffed at how she knew the mind of the humans, but it seemed likely to me after all the time she spent with them. Besides, what did I care for the plan? I just wished this would be over. I did not want to fight random humans.

Then…what do you want?

I do not know. Why would you ask me that question? It's ridiculous.

The humans below moved. An ear-shattering movement of their weapons. "Aha!" Envy rejoiced. "They made a move. We can move in."

"No! Wait." Sloth held him back again. "Not yet."

We waited. For a while. I stared at the woman who did not fear water. She spoke now and then to the man, but other than that she remained quiet and stared straight ahead. Her face showed nothing, but her eyes…I could tell through her eyes that her mind was running rampant. When they wanted to move, she shouted words over the rain. Her voice was strong. Loud. I could hear her words perfectly from where I stood—although that was a benefit from the absence of mortality—and her fellow humans probably could as well.

With words from the blonde, the team began moving forward, drawing closer and closer to our place.

"Alright," Sloth conceded. "Let's move." Without another word she dissolved into water to match the rain. Envy transformed into one of the humans—dressed completely like them—and disappeared at the back of the building. Unlike either of them, I swung through an open, broken window at the top of the building and waited on the inside rafters for some unsuspecting humans.

From the inside, the rain sounded like a creature in and of itself. Water streamed down the decaying wood in small sounds like the feet of many animals scampering downward to their proper place. Drips of water leaked through the ceiling and created puddles in numerous places. Briefly I watched them.

Tears. Human tears were pouring in through the roof. Sadness. The humans were lamenting their possible defeat. Or at least…the humans except for that woman. She probably did not cry. She was immune to water.

I sighed. What were Sloth and Envy doing right now? There were some holes in the front of the building so I briefly caught a glimpse of some blue uniforms, but other than that I was completely isolated. It was nice. Action raged on around me—I assumed—while I had nothing to do with any of it. Perhaps if I remained there long enough nothing would happen. The rest of my supposed "family" would kill off the humans and I would stay listening to the rain, myself completely untouched by murder.

Well, not completely. I myself am a murder. A death, I suppose.

There were often times I wondered why. Why was I…t—

Suddenly Envy flew by me in his regular form. He wore an expression that reeked of the thrill of the fight. He spotted me on his way and ran next to me.

"Take of this one," he commanded. "As much as I'd like to have the pleasure of killing it, I don't have the time!"

"Which one?" I asked. We were alone.

"Just shut up and do as I say!" He ran across the rafters, straight outside the other end of the building.

This left me with an interesting situation. Alone, I was supposed to face an enemy that was not there. Did this mean I had to look for one? Did I have to actually leave this place of momentary refuge? If that was the case, I was willing to wait a few minutes to see how it unfolded.

Perhaps I should have left and followed Envy out of the building. But I did not. I waited, wanting to keep the sanctuary as long as I possibly could.

After no more than half a minute, I heard a noise in the direction of the front side. A human? Whipping my around to see this perpetrator, I spotted none other than the blonde-haired woman that was not effected by the rain. She held a gun in her hand and walked like she was on a distinct mission. Her nose…blood ran from it freely but she made no move to stop it. In her eyes was only the mission…bearing the emotion of a thousand men. I could feel fury radiating off of her in pounds of heat and sizzling electricity.

She was different from the other humans I knew.

"HOMUNCULUS!" she called out in the same voice of command that I had heard her use with the State Alchemists. "WHERE ARE YOU? COME OUT WHERE I CAN SEE YOU!!"

Of course. This building was dark and she had human eyes. My eyes could see perfectly in any lighting, but hers…ah, yes. The only source of light was by the hole in the front. She was almost blind in here.

Yet still, the woman advanced. Bravery? Courage? Or just anger? There was no way to tell. Any way, I needed to destroy this special woman as if she were any other human off the street.

Fine. In a way, I almost wanted to see how she fought and how she worked.

Jumping down from the rafters, I began advancing towards her. Of course she heard me; I wanted that. Facing me wildly, pointing her gun right at me, she fired a shot.

I did not even need to move. The bullet whizzed by my hair, passing me completely. She really could not see, apparently.

I continued to advance. Shakily she threatened, "One more move and I'll shoot!"

"Go ahead," I offered. "It will not do you any good."

She gasped. "A woman?"

How sad. She had mistaken me for an actual woman. I scoffed at the lunacy of the idea, needing to hide my pain. "You do not confront a woman," I answered, sharpening my hands into blades. "You confront a homunculus."

Deftly, I stretched out the blades until they reached her. Instead of simply killing her right there, I decided to slice her gun in half, making it useless.

Gasping again, but covering the noise before it completely escaped her, she dropped the former weapon. "Monster!" she yelled, reaching into one of her front pockets. The moment I saw the knife I dodged. Indeed she did throw it, but it landed somewhere behind us; completely in the back of this shed where it would be no help to her.

I rolled onto the floor in my dodge and whipped out my other bladed hand, slicing her across the stomach. She grunted and fell backwards. I watched in curiosity as thick her blood dripped down from the wound.

Amazingly, she managed to stagger again to her feet. This time she reached for the hilt of a sword by her side. "Impressive," I told her. I did not want to add the last fact: But still human. Let her think she had outsmarted a homunculus for at least a minute.

Unfortunately, before a minute could pass, she lunged at me with the sword—almost hitting me. I was surprised. Her sixth sense was very well developed in order for her to able to see in the dark. Using my arms, I blocked every single strike she had, skilled strikes though they were. Eventually I grew bored and knocked the sword out of her hand. She had lost too much blood for a tight grip, it seemed.

I began chuckling. "What next?" Truthfully, I was genuinely interested. Too interested, perhaps, to notice that she had drawn a knife from her other pocket. While I advanced towards her, she flung the knife at me again. I dodged, but too late. This time it hit me just below the chest.

Blood gushed out of my mouth with a strangled cry. False blood. There was never any pain when I bled, never any feeling. It was as if it took my body a moment to realize that it was not human, but if injured quickly, blood fell out of me simply due to reflex. A hint of something natural, perhaps.

I tripped on the floor, falling sideways. The woman was trying to escape me. She was running towards the hole—leaving. This I regrettably could not allow.

Pulling the knife out of my chest, already healing, I sharpened my hands from a kneeling position and cast them away from me. I knew I would hit her from the moment she turned her back on me.

All I heard was an excruciated scream. My hand impaled her through the front of her shin, splitting the bone down the middle. Of course, she fell. I could hear her agonized breaths leave her in sharp bursts. She lay on her back, completely defenseless.

Needless to say, it was a fascinating sight. One so powerful and courageous now squirming on the ground, upturned like a beetle without solid ground to stand upon.

I took my time getting up. She could not leave that spot. I doubted whether she would ever walk again in her short lifetime. As I moved closer to her, she began kicking the blade within her using the other leg. It did no good, but I was again surprised at the willpower it took. Surprised, no longer amazed. I had accepted the fact that she was feisty.

"You are a strong-willed human," I told her, walking slowly to meet her. "You have more fight in you than most men. Strange, though…" By this time I had reached her small body. I decided to lean over it. After sharpening my other hand, I directed the point exactly on the edge of her neck. "…that you should meet your end here. Right now. By my hand."

Her hands rose to meet my blade against her neck. She truly was suffering. The look on her face reminded me of a trampled rose petal. Something so beautiful now destroyed so carelessly. Blood from her nose ran into her mouth and she had no choice but to swallow it. She tried to pull the blade away from her, but the length of it was completely sharp. So, instead, my blades sliced through the silky skin on her palms as they desperately clutched onto me. The smell of blood became overtly powerful as it escaped this woman's exposed body.

I watched her for a moment. More than a moment, really. How fascinating to see one so near death…so helpless…

My own body proved to be quite unruly. It had frozen. Not a muscle would move at my will. My mind kept telling me to push the blade deeper into her throat. Kill her. Do as you are told! Obey your orders!

But…it is just so…beautiful…to watch her suffer…to watch her breathe her last…must this moment be ruined by her inevitable death?

Suddenly her face transformed. The pain seeping through her complexion changed into hate. Deep hatred. The kind of hatred boasted in hell as flames licked the feet of innocent humans and creatures. Her face reminded me of…torture.

"Do it," she spat at me. Her voice quivered because of blood loss, but the will that so defined her was still there. Still. I gaped in amazement. "Go ahead…do it…if you can. You...ho-homunculus…f-f-filth…"

Damn this frozen body. This pain. This amazement. This…woman. Damn her! But…her beauty was…unsurpassed by anything I had ever witnessed. Her hatred…her burning eyes that were so inhuman, but still natural…

In the background I heard footsteps and men shouting. I looked up. The others. They were coming this way. Damn! I could not kill her in such a rush. I could not…it would be the injustice of all life.

A man's voice said, "Move! Quickly! We need to find them!"

The woman beneath me was losing consciousness. How strange she looked…asleep. Strange and yet…

I ripped my blades out of her. She twitched but did not move. Let the humans heal her. She would not die today.

Before jumping away, I leaned over her once more and whispered in her fallen, half-dead ear, "Live."

I dashed towards the rafters again, fleeing the scene into the pouring rain. Water still drained from the heavens. It had not lightened a bit.

I stared into the sky, watching the rain pellets hit my face directly.

Wash over me, rain. Take away my sins. Heal the life of that woman.

Give life.

Give me life…

A/N: Woot! Finished a chapter. ::wipes sweat off brow:: That took a day. Oh well! It was completely worth it. I like the way Lust and Riza interacted…just as long as it wasn't too slow. What did you guys think? Was the beginning a little…blah? I hope not. Some of that was needed in order to set up the rest of the chapter. Tell me what you thought.

Sorry again for the long wait! You all know how much I love you. Please review! I look forward to it, as always!